This year the internet picked up on the fact that Philip Rivers and the Chargers are always in these one-score games. It was something that always happened like cold weather in the northeast during winter. If the Chargers were playing, Rivers was down seven or fewer points driving with under two minutes to go. We didn’t need proof or stats to that tell us that it always happens. Well, now it’s to the point where the numbers are ridiculous.
Chargers have lost 31 one-possession games since 2015, the most in the @NFL.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) November 19, 2019
That’s only since 2015. Rivers has the most one-score losses by a quarterback in the Super Bowl era with 61. That means almost half of those one-score losses have come in the past four years. That’s ridiculous.
It’s hard to figure out who to blame here. Does Rivers have a preternatural ability to keep games close but blow them in the most heartbreaking way imaginable? Is it coaching? The Chargers had a long stretch of kicker issues.
It’s really unfathomable. Generally, teams that suffer a ton of one-score losses bounce back because that’s how reversion to the mean works. Apparently, statistical rules don’t apply to the Los Angeles — and prior San Diego — Chargers.